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Ezek 43:10
Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of
Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities:
and let them measure the pattern.
All of us are called to make disciples; we are
called to instruct others in God’s ways. We are called to SHOW THEM THE
HOUSE. What “iniquity” was the “house of Israel”
ashamed of in the above scripture? The iniquity of building their
house instead of God’s house. The iniquity of the house of Israel
was revealed to them AS the “Son of Man” showed them the house
that God is building. Likewise, when you show others the house that God is
building – it will reveal their iniquity. As you show the
“temple” to the “temple” it is up to them to “measure the
pattern”. Indeed, it is up to them to examine the pattern. As you teach
the temple that God is building, it will be up to them to see the rule,
the "detailed plan", and the pattern by which they should have
walked. Let them become "measured" by this
standard, and walk accordingly. We cannot cause them to see if they have
their eyes closed; we cannot make them walk if they refuse to move. We
must show them “HOW” they can walk, and we must show them the
“house” that God is building. Every one of us is CALLED to be temple
builders and every one of us is CALLED to have God’s temple – BUILT IN
US. God always uses His “blueprint” or “pattern” to build His
temple.
The blueprint of this temple is very detailed
but God gives grace sufficient. The blueprint is simply stated
“TRUTH”! Jesus said He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Knowing Jesus as our Way causes us to abandon our own ways. When we
abandon our own way it will join us together with others who have done the
same – putting us on the same path. Knowing Jesus as our
Truth will give us the correct knowledge of the Son – giving us the
pattern to build by. Knowing Jesus as our Life will cause the fruit in our
life to mature causing us to grow to the proper height – and that is
how we must ultimately show others the pattern - by our life’s example. This
is quite Important - if we have not seen Jesus’ way demonstrated in our
life then the reason lies with us - WE HAVE
YET TO ABANDON OUR WAYS AND ACCEPT HIM AS TRUTH! We cannot blame it on the
pastor or other ministers we have received from, we are the ones that are
accountable. Jesus will lead the sheep that have a true hunger for
Truth - to His servants that feed it. If you do not gain the hunger
for “strong meat” then the table Jesus sets before you will contain
multiple containers of milk. We may think our milk is meat but our
appetite that lacks the “true hunger for strong meat” - deceives us.
Churches are full of people content with milk and hold doctrines that
change very little from year to year.
A diet of milk will limit our effectiveness in
temple building. Milk diets produce truth that is obscure and veiled with
reproductive capabilities that impart to others only the most foundational
truths. If we have not been building in the lives of others “the Truth
that sets free” then we have not truly seen Him in great measure as
Truth. When we are attacked by others and respond by being defensive, we
truly have lacked the Life that overcomes evil with good. We will never
walk in God’s Life with much degree unless we go through Truth.
We will never demonstrate God’s character without knowing the Blueprint
that God is revealing.
Though this pattern, this blueprint is
detailed, the Father has always made Truth – SIMPLE. Man is the one who
took scripture and made it complicated by “thinking more highly of
himself then he ought”. By God’s grace, Jesus shall be presented in
these following pages as – simple and yet detailed. God made Truth
simple so as to EXCLUDE no one. Man will complicate Truth so as to exclude
you from fulfilling the purposes of God. We will examine some of the
teachings in the present day church that exclude instead of include.
No doubt all of us have been put in certain bondage because of these
“excluding doctrines”. God will certainly set you free the moment you
SEE that the nature of these “excluding teachings” that bind you are
not the nature that is Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit will then reveal the
Truth that always "includes" those that follow
Jesus. These scholarly men have a gift and yet it was used as a gift apart
from the Holy Spirit as their teacher. God has likewise given me a great
gift of researching things out and though it is a God given gift I have
considered it as worthless in order that I might know Jesus instead.
(Phil. 3:9). It is at this point that the gift becomes a useable tool to
God. In my life it took the chastisements of the Holy Spirit in
circumstances to occur first so that when this precious gift is used it
would be a tool in the Master’s hand instead of my hand.
Called
To A More Excellent Way
1 Corinthians
13:1
But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto
you a more excellent way.
The Apostle Paul spoke
of a “more excellent way”; in our walk in the Spirit there is a
“more excellent way”. Do not be content to stay at the place in Christ
that you are at NOW. If you want to progress to know Jesus more and to be
a believer that is “like Christ”, this message will aid in completing
that desire. The “more excellent way” that Paul speaks of… is a
“more mature way”.
When I was saved in
1979, I “preached” to others, in the zeal of God, even as one that had
experienced life from death. God honored my endeavors even though I was
newly born. I therefore saw these labors producing results and yet God
speaks loudly – deliverance from Egypt (world) brings zeal and
excitement BUT a desert life (affliction) lies before you. What am I
saying? Many times when we come out of the kingdom of darkness (the world,
Egypt), we are like Moses and the Israelites, who experienced great
rejoicing in song on the other side of the Red Sea. Many of us
experienced great rejoicing because of our deliverance; however Moses and
the Israelites came to a desert place - afterwards. Likewise, for
us there is trial and tribulation - afterwards. We can
choose another way but it will not be God’s “more excellent way”. We
cannot remain in our infant and “baby stages” and expect God to always
bless our endeavors. God will wean you even as a mother weans her baby off
her continuous supply of milk. God in the same manner will cause you to
SEEK OUT His “more excellent food”.
This book has a focus
primarily on the “more excellent way”. For instance, if you were one
that has no daily time in the scriptures, one could minister in regards to
the need for you to spend a small portion of your day in God’s
word. Certainly this would be of the Lord and would be edifying to those
that spend no time in God’s Word, however
the purpose here is to examine the “more excellent way”
of God. Instead we would focus on the heart of the psalmist who meditated
day and night on God’s words. Therefore the calling of this book is to
bring you to God’s desired END wherever you may be in your walk. Some
focus on your next step and certainly this would be of the Lord,
some focus on an elementary aspect of walking, this is also of the Lord,
however the anointing here is to provide a view of “the endings” God
has called us to. The focus here will be to provide the Wisdom of the Lord
to SEE the traps that the enemy has laid ahead (in affliction) and (in
false teachings). All of us will enviably encounter these things in our
race yet our hope is that your race will be a race that
possesses a finishing line that you are called and destined to arrive at.
By God’s grace we will provide ANSWERS that give great hope of
finishing.
The
Desire to Grow Up
Understanding “the
more excellent way” principle is important in our growth. Have you ever
gotten impatient concerning your spiritual growth? This impatience can
produce frustration and will continue until you understand this principle.
The reason some of us get discourage in our maturity is because we see
ahead. We see what God’s end desire is for us, we see a calling that
God has on our life and yet we have not walked in it yet. ,
a minister and friend, has a saying “immature is not impure”. We see
our immaturity and then we beat ourselves up over it. As you read books
like this one you will see a more mature way that God wants you to walk
in. The danger here is that you see it but you cannot walk in it yet and
therefore you get frustrated. When my son was 8 years old he wanted to be
an adult. He yearned to be an adult and to experience the things of
adulthood. What he did not realize that we as adults we do realize
- is that “adulthood is not what it is cracked up to be”.
We want to grow up and
experience adulthood and yet we are mere 8 year olds. We think, “If we
were just an adult then all will be well”. Adulthood is a time of great
freedom to do what we want, it is a time where we have ability to do
things we could not do before but it is also a time where we become
accountable on a much larger scale, and it is also a time of
responsibility. You are destined to be a mature adult Christian
but it is your choice. You should choose this course and if you are
reading this book then I assume you have already chosen this course. But
after seeing adulthood we tend to focus like my son did on its advantages,
its rewards instead of its responsibilities. A child should never
undertake the accountability of adulthood because they have not
sufficiently experienced the dealings of life.
As “child
Christians” we want the “adult Christian” experience and have not
sufficiently experienced the dealings of the Holy Spirit. My advice to my
son was to enjoy the maturity level that he is walking
in and yet be continuing
a habitual walk towards adulthood. It is needful to view what
adulthood looks like, but not just the advantages and rewards. It is
needful to view the sufferings and trials through the dealings of the Holy
Spirit that must be PASSED, in order to get there. It is needful to know
that when you get there that the accountability is much greater.
Scriptures says that life and death is in the power of the tongue, and
when you become a Christian then that principle is amplified. As you grow
in the Lord, God deals with your tongue and He causes you to continually
release control of it for His good purposes, He becomes the governor of
your tongue much more as you grow. Now as you arrive at adulthood we see
God and the hosts of heaven performing what God’s adult offspring
have said – as the scripture says “the power of the tongue
results in good or evil”. Because of the higher accountability level the
consequences of unruliness and disobedience in the mature ones’ tongue
is greater. This is the principle that we see in the world system and yet
it is more important in the “nature of spiritual life”. The best
example in scripture is seen in the two witnesses. The must utter forth
judgments of their enemies as often as they will, therefore
God must really trust them in the area of their tongue.
In the world there are
physical 30-year-olds that act like babies. In the spirit there are
30-year-old Christians; acting like they just got born again. This is not
the pattern God has designed; it is a deviated design of nature. We teach
our kids as responsible parents to prepare them for adulthood; the key
word here is “prepare”. We teach our kids the principles of life,
knowledge, and training for that ultimate day. The main purpose of
doctrine in the church is – to train us in God’s ways in preparation
for adulthood. Bad parents that do not raise their kids properly turn out
kids that become irresponsible and though the children age they never
become mature. For instance, if they were not trained in work ethics
growing up then most likely they will have no work ethics when they join
the work force. Most employers can testify to the decline of work ethics
in different societies that can be attributed to “how kids are being
raised”. These natural observations are important in spiritual
observations.
My hope is to prepare
you for adulthood. By God’s grace the Holy Spirit can use these
teachings as a tool to instruct in righteousness that produces adulthood.
As you learn and see then you must just “walk towards” these goals,
these finishing lines. If God reveals to us the power of the tongue it is
shocking to see ourselves speaking immaturity but remember, “immature is
not impure”, however when the Holy Spirit convicts we must repent and
change our course immediately. We must “WALK TOWARDS” - that is what
is entailed in repentance and turning your direction. Do not get
frustrated and try to grow up too fast. Accept the dealings and lessons of
the Holy Spirit that are set before you today. Submit and yield to those
dealings and you will simply grow up. The desire to grow does not cause
the growth it simply puts you walking in the direction towards growth. It
is the accepting of rain and light that usher growth; it is a growth that
causes the shell of the seed to break, the ground to break and a bud that
must break forth to issue fruit which is the life that others eat of. You
are destined to fruit bearing but you must be content with breaking the
soil if that is where you are.
In the spiritual
principles we find that our life can be categorically at a stage of growth
but God deals with us in one area at a time. He shows us a place or maybe
two places that He is dealing with you for growth NOW. God deals with
us in the now, and right now He has His finger on an area of our life to
break and then grow. The bottom line is we will see in books like this
what bearing fruit looks like and what is entailed to get there. By
God’s ability we show you how to run the race, where the finishing line
is and how to get there – but your part is to hide these things in your
heart and apply NOW only that which concerns where you are in this part of
the course.
As an example, I knew
years ago the importance of speaking words that only impart life. God
taught me that the words I would speak would one day be comparable to the
words Jesus spoke. Whereas Jesus spoke only on His Father’s authority, I
would speak one day only on Jesus’ authority. The frustration of knowing
that is hard; years have gone by and I am still far from that finishing
line. I have learned that though this is a place in God that He desires,
yet I must be content with where I am today in this race and let God
figure out how and when I will get to that finishing line. We know in
America that we have arrived at adulthood at 18 years old. In the
spiritual walk we see dimly in the reference of time. We always want God
to do a quick work. We expect that we will arrive shortly but in actuality
a quick work comes only through much revelation of God’s way
intermingled with extreme affliction to teach us the discipline of the
Holy Spirit. If you respond to affliction immediately with the nature
and response of Jesus, then we are catapulted quicker to the finishing
line. If we pitch a fit and kick, scream and moan as our immediate
response then we grow slower. If we refuse the dealing of the Holy Spirit
concerning the affliction then we do not grow at all. If you continually
reject the dealings of the Holy Spirit then you simply die spiritually,
you go back to the starting line. We must press forward as an Olympic
runner – seeing the goal.
In conclusion God has
a more excellent way of being FULL GROWN. We must discover this truth
first and separate it from the foundational truth of God. After seeing
what this full-grown adulthood looks like we must learn the course of how
we get there. After we see the course then we must run with aim towards
that finishing line. We must train hard to finish; we must endure a flesh
crying out for us to stop this insanity. We must not faint when we come
across obstacle after obstacle. We must receive from God the ability, the
grace to run the course before us today and trust Him to get us further
along in the course tomorrow. It is not about how healthy our body is; it
is not about how great our training is, it is simply about having a
relationship with our Trainer and trusting in His instruction and His
strength to get us down the road. Yesterday’s course is a testimony
of that instruction, that training, and “that trusting” in His
ability. Let your previous running be a testimony of how real our God is
and how much He loves His children that He has mercy on them and gives
grace to accomplish all of His desires – in the Earth.
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